Under the most current revision of a TIA/EIA-136 telecommunication standard, there are five protocols for identifying features that may be supported, mandatorily or optionally, by a mobile station and a base station message center inter-working (hereinafter “BMI”). A first protocol version TIA/EIA-136-A PV1 (hereinafter “PV1”) including three mandatory features and twenty-five optional features is illustrated in the following TABLE 1:
TABLE 1PV1 FEATURESOPTIONAL/MANDATORYIntelligent RoamingOptionalMultilingual DisplayOptionalISO-8859 (Latin 1)MandatoryISO-10646 (BMP)OptionalISO-8859-8 (Latin/Hebrew)OptionalAsync DataOptionalG3-FaxOptionalDADSOptionalNon-Public ModeOptionalDTXOptionalSubaddressingOptionalUser GroupOptionalHalf-Rate DTCOptionalDouble-Rate DTCOptionalTriple-Rate DTCOptionalSTU-IIIOptionalTotal Charge InfoOptionalTSARMandatoryCellular Messaging TeleserviceOptionalGUTSOptionalOATSOptionalOPTSOptionalSMS SubmitOptionalR-Data Delivery on DTCMandatoryPFC 2 to 8OptionalACELPOptionalOMEA and VPMOptional
A second protocol version TIA/EIA-136-A PV2 (hereinafter “PV2”) includes one mandatory feature and two optional features in addition to the three mandatory features and twenty-five optional features of PV1. The specific mandatory feature and optional features of PV2 are illustrated in the following TABLE 2:
TABLE 2PV2 FEATURESOPTIONAL/MANDATORYDownlink Power ControlMandatoryEnhanced MACAOptionalBATSOptional
A third protocol version TIA/EIA-136-A PV3 (hereinafter “PV3”) includes zero mandatory features and five optional features in addition to the four mandatory features and twenty-seven optional features of PV1 and PV2. The specific optional features of PV3 are illustrated in the following TABLE 3:
TABLE 3PV3 FEATURESOPTIONAL/MANDATORY136+ Packet DataOptional8-PSK ModulationOptionalExtended Voice ModeOptionalUS1 VocoderOptionalInterleavingOptional
A fourth protocol version TIA/EIA-136-B PV4 (hereinafter “PV4”) includes two mandatory features and three optional features in addition to the four mandatory features and thirty-two optional features of PV1, PV2 and PV3. The specific mandatory features and optional features of PV4 are illustrated in the following TABLE 4:
TABLE 4PV4 FEATURESOPTIONAL/MANDATORYEnhanced Privacy and EncryptionMandatoryAdded Diversity For Improvement inOptionalChannel ErrorsGPRS-136Optional+Code DialingMandatoryCharge Indication Teleservice (CIT)Optional
A fifth protocol version TIA/EIA-136-C PV5 (hereinafter “PV5”) includes zero mandatory features and nine optional features in addition to the six mandatory features and thirty-five optional features of PV1, PV2, PV3 and PV4. The specific optional features of PV5 are illustrated in the following TABLE 5:
TABLE 5PV5 FEATURESOPTIONAL/MANDATORYRemovable User Identity Module (R-UIM)OptionalEGPRS-136OptionalAdaptive Multi-Rate (AMR)OptionalFast Power ControlOptionalTeleservice Over GSM SMSOptionalTransmit Diversity On DTCOptionalHigh Penetration Paging (HPP)OptionalSystem Assisted Mobile PositioningOptionalThrough Satellite
Currently, there are two mechanisms employed by telecommunication networks for communicating which mandatory features of PV1–PV5 are supported by a mobile station and a BMI. The first mechanism involves the mobile station and the BMI agreeing, during an initial registration process, on the lowest common denominator of features between PV1–PV5 that is being supported by the mobile station and the BMI. Thus, the mobile station and the BMI are able to identify the mandatory features being supported by the mobile station and the BMI. The second mechanism involves including a list of supported mandatory features within a Capability Request message and a Capability Report message.
Although the two mechanisms have utility, a limitation of the two mechanisms is the failure to communicate optional features of PV1–PV5 that are supported by the mobile station and the BMI. As such, in order to determine if a particular optional feature is supported, for example the teleservice feature of PV5, the BMI currently sends an R-DATA message corresponding to an optional feature to the mobile station and a reception of a R-DATA REJECT message from the mobile station indicates to the BMI that the mobile station is not supporting the optional feature. However, this method can be a signaling drain.
Another limitation under the current TIA/EIA-136 is a restriction of having to implement all mandatory features from a selected protocol version and each preceding protocol version. For example, a manufacturer of a mobile station having PV5 must also implement the mandatory features of PV1–PV4. However, mandatory features of PV1–PV4 may not be commercially demanded by consumers or required by the carrier of the mobile station. Thus, the restriction has an impact on the development costs and schedules of mobile stations, which in turn affects the deployment of related mobile services.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method and system for communicating supported mandatory and optional features under the TIA/EIA-136 standard and similar types of standards.